A Sweet Collaboration

by Traceena Lynch

Part 3: Faith for the Future

“Do I have to stay the whole time?” Rosalina asks Lily as they arrive. “I’d appreciate it if you did,” Lily responds, already in her zone and ready to work. From there, Rosalina does what she does best, sits away from others just observing. As the photo shoot goes on, she slowly notices Lily becoming impatient, something you don’t usually see. “Let’s take five and come back to finish up afterwards,” Lily says to Caleb, who only nods in agreement.

Lily comes to Rosalina. “I’ve never seen such an interestingly crafted cake. Every angle there’s a new mistake that I’ll have to cover up later, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I would hate to have to upcharge for edits.”

“I hope you’re not giving up, because it’s only simple things. Like, take a look at this,” Rosalina says showing her the sketch she’s just made of the cake. Rosalina starts to ramble on about how it should’ve been done and how with a bit of tim, it could easily be fixed. After showing Lily the vision of the cake that she was photographing, it finally became clear.

“She probably hates it, Kelly,” Caleb says, pacing back and forth.

“Well you know now for next time what to fix I guess,” Kelly said sitting on the front counter of the bakery by the register.

“THERE MIGHT NOT BE A NEXT TIME, KELLY!” he shouts. “Why is that now?” he asks, staying calm, hoping that it’ll influence Caleb to do the same.

“I don’t know, she probably won’t have any availability for a while,” Caleb responds, finally taking a breath and sitting down. “Well, you’ll never know unless you actually ask,” Kelly reassures him.

As they walk back into the kitchen, they overhear Rosalina’s vision of how she sees the cake, and Kelly has a light bulb moment. Kelly goes up and talks to Rosalina, explains the situation about the cake and his friend, and asks if she could help him out. He agrees, still enthusiastic about her drawing. Kelly then turns to have a private conversation with Lily.

“Your friend tells me you’re having problems with envisioning this cake well enough to actually bring it to life,” she says. “I might have a slight problem, I don’t understand how to express it,” Caleb responds embarrassed. “Understandable, most people don’t have that ability, but if you’d like I wouldn’t mind helping,” she says as she hands him the drawing of the cake she made. He smiles and says “I’d like that very much,”.

After some time, Kelly and Lily rejoin Rosalina and Caleb. “So, I’ve talked to Lily over here,” Kelly explains, “and we’ve agreed to reschedule time for a do-over. How’s that sound?

“Pretty good, Rosalina’s actually offered to help me so it’ll go smoother next time,” Caleb responds, now having faith in the future. “I guess it’s a go for next week then. I’ll send you the information later, Caleb,” Lily says, packing up her things.

The next photoshoot runs really well and the cake ends up looking as amazing as it tastes. As Lily and Rosalina leave, You look happier than usual, how come?” Lily asks Rosalina as they leave the bakery. “If you must know, Caleb asked me to help him anytime he has cake orders. He even said he’d pay me; we’ll be partners and split the profit 50/50.

“I’m so happy for you, Rosie. I guess you being an artist doesn’t really mean you have to work in big art galleries, it just means you have to find the job that works best for you and your artistic skills. Not only that, but a place that appreciates those skills, and Caleb seems to appreciate them!” Lily exclaims, extremely proud of her best friend. This is the happiest Rosalina has been in quite some time.

“Thanks Lily, not sure if it’s permanent, but it’s a start. I finally have faith for the future.”

The End

* SPOILER: IT DOES BECOME A PERMANENT THING *